Magdalena
by bettynoire
Summary: How does Faith pay for her hotel, and more importantly, her leathers? Buffy finds out. BF with hints of BW. FEMSLASH.
1. Cummin's Place

RATING: PG-13 for this chapter. DISTROBUTION: Ask and ye shall receive. DISCLAIMER: Only the plot is mine. FEEDBACK: Please do. A/N: Starts after "Helpless", but before "The Zeppo"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Xander tugged impatiently at the cotton scarf wrapped tightly around his eyes.  
  
"Aw, c'mon, what's so secret about something I'm going to know anyway! Can't I just-"  
  
"No," Buffy insisted firmly, grabbing both his hands and locking them behind his back as she led him into a small building, "I'm sorry it had to come to this, Xand, but you have to be patient."  
  
She directed him forward, and he slowly became aware of a steady beat around him, as well at the hoots and hollers of many men (and some women). He felt Buffy shove him into a chair and unveil his eyes before he had a chance to do so himself. Xander looked around and closed his mouth at the comment he was about to make, the thought leaving his brain the second his eyes were uncovered.  
  
He was at a strip club. The only strip club in Sunnydale, in fact. Cummin's Place. His eyes darted everywhere, from the stage to its bar and finally, to its stripper, who was currently pawing at her body in a nearly masturbatory way.  
  
Buffy looked pointedly at Willow and nodded her head towards Xander's vacant expression. "I think he likes his birthday present," she said, mirth dancing lightly in her eyes, and the redhead smiled uneasily.  
  
Buffy gave her best friend a reassuring smile. She, too, felt pretty weird sitting in a strip club, but she *was* 18, and so was Willow. They're legally allowed to be here, and besides, it was *her* idea to bring Xander here for his birthday. She, the Slayer, afraid of naked women? Pssh!  
  
Willow, of course, went along with her best friend, partly because she couldn't come up with anything else, and partly because she figured this would help Xander get over Cordy and... well, *her*. Willow gave Xander a nervous look and calmed when she saw he was actually enjoying himself. Then she realized what a ridiculous thought it was to think he *wouldn't* enjoy himself in a strip club, and berated herself mentally for being so dense. She kept her eyes directed at her feet, only sparing short glances up to see why Xander would gasp occasionally, and then quickly look down, blushing furiously.  
  
Buffy wasn't doing much better herself, she tried to watch the stripper but would find herself either disgusted or embarrassed by her actions. The stripper couldn't dance very well... in fact she currently wasn't doing much more than grinding against the pole. Earlier she had copied a Britney Spears dance routine move for move, only with even less clothing than Britney herself, which would, in some cases, be a feat on its own, but hey, this was a strip club. Clothing was not required in the slightest.  
  
Buffy quickly grew irritated with both having to sit still and the stripper's obvious lack of talent beyond being "hot". Personally, Buffy thought the stripper looked a little too much like her mom. 'Oh God, EW! Way to scar yourself for life, Buffy,' she thought, cringing outwardly as well as inwardly. Impatiently, she left a blushing Willow and a hypnotized Xander in their seats to go to the bar, realizing she was *really* thirsty.  
  
She slid onto a stool at the bar, asking for a Pepsi from the heavily tattooed bartender. As he filled a glass with ice she let her gaze wander over the patrons. The women there looked as disgusted as her, and almost all of them seemed to be anticipating something. The men were not nearly as hypnotized as Xander, but all the same were watching fairly adamantly. They, too, seemed to be waiting for something (someone?) else.  
  
Buffy accepted her soda from the bartender, and she felt a slight tickle under her skin... like someone had lightly trailed a feather across her shoulders. She smiled as a reflex to her Slayer connection and looked around for Faith. Not seeing her, she shrugged and basked in the feeling, figuring Faith must be nearby, probably slaying a vampire or curing her H&H. Buffy scowled slightly at that thought, wondering what pleasure Faith could find in sleeping with random men.  
  
Buffy sipped her Pepsi, and tried not to dwell on that thought.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Faith drew her stake back fluidly, the dust settling lightly around her. She gave the gathering dustpile a disgusted look and grumbled "Now I'm gonna be late! Just fuckin' peachy..." She angrily wiped at her jean jacket and walked through the back door of "Cummin's Place".  
  
"'Ey, Lenore!" yelled the manager, the second he saw her, "What the fuck are you playing at being so damn late? Candy's been on stage for a fuckin' half hour! God himself knows she's only here cuz she's got a fuckin' kid to feed! Now get in your fucking costume!" He shoved her lightly towards her dressing room. She resisted the urge to deck him.  
  
Once in her dressing room, she angrily yanked off her jean jacket. "What's wrong with you tonight, 'Nore?" asked Janice snottily, whom she shared her room with. "What's wrong with your *face*, Jan?" Faith maliciously replied. Janice left the room, a "whatever" face firmly in place. Faith sighed and tied her hair up into a loose ponytail before tugging on a pleated skirt. 'Hey, I gotta pay for my leathers somehow, right?' Faith told herself for the fourth time that week.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
'*Finally*,' thought Buffy, when the horrible Mom-ish stripper finally got off stage. The music (an awful techno remix of some Motown song) stopped and Buffy waited for the next one to begin, noticing that the stage was dark. A deep, sultry voice played out from the silence, singing the lyrics to Fiona Apple's "Slow like honey". The raw sensuality in the voice sent shivers down Buffy's spine.  
  
The stage faded into view... the lights slowly going up. Buffy's jaw dropped as the next stripper came into view, and somewhere in the back of her mind she heard the bartender chuckle softly, "That's Lenore for ya...can't just strip, she's gotta *sing*."  
  
It was Faith. 


	2. Enjoying the show?

~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 2 ~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Buffy's eyes took in her fellow Slayer's appearance. The brunette was wearing her hair in a hurried ponytail, a few tendrils of dark hair curling down around her face and neck. Her full lips slid around every syllable and let it slip away from her mouth, floating dazedly into the audience, the words of the song leaving a haunting feeling in Buffy's and the other patrons' chests.  
  
Faith took a step forward, one hand tugging lightly on the collar of her blouse before traveling downward and slowly undoing three buttons, allowing a glimpse of a black lace bra. She gazed out at the audience through half lidded eyes with a half smile gracing her mouth as she sang, giving a hint of mischief to her appearance.  
  
The audience was completely silent, as if everyone was holding their collective breath. Buffy snapped out of her daze when Faith locked eyes with her and winked, giving the blonde a dimpled grin to go with it. Buffy felt herself blush, but for some reason couldn't tear herself away from the lithe form on stage.  
  
Faith's hands trailed lightly down her sides, her hips swaying as she danced. She turned around and looked at the audience over her shoulder, finally unbuttoning her shirt all the way, and sliding it enticingly down one shoulder and the next, inch by inch of creamy flesh becoming exposed. The shirt fell down her arms easily, and Faith caught it in one hand before tossing it carelessly over her shoulder. A small cry of shock came from the front row and Buffy's heightened sense of hearing told her the voice belonged to Willow.  
  
The redhead's eyes shot from the (still warm!) blouse in her hands back to the brunette on stage, who hooked an ankle around the pole and spun around it halfway landing gracefully on the other side, her high heeled shoes scraping lightly against the stage floor once she landed. She was stripping almost casually, as if she was dancing alone in her room, in front of a mirror. Willow's face nearly matched her hair as she sat riveted by Faith's performance.  
  
The black lace of her bra stood out from the brunette's pale, smooth skin, and she teasingly hooked her thumbs into the waistband of her dark gray pleated skirt before starting to undo the buttons down the side. She'd stopped singing, but the instrumental played in the background, swirling lightly through the background of everyone's minds as Faith spun around the pole after tossing her skirt into the audience as well, and another startled "Eep!" told Buffy it had landed on Xander this time.  
  
Faith's hair loosed itself of the ponytail midway through the spin and now lay tousled against her shoulders as she licked her lips seductively and lowered herself to the floor of the stage. She crawled, panther-like, towards a certain redhead in the audience, swinging her legs gently over the edge of the stage.  
  
Willow, unaware of staring openly at the brunette beauty in front of her, snapped out of her daze when Faith straddled her lap, clothed in nothing but a black lace lingerie set, white knee socks, and high heeled loafers. A small whimper escaped Willow's throat as Faith leaned forward and whispered in her ear, husky and teasing.  
  
"Enjoying the show, Red?" Faith's breath tickled Willow's ear and the redhead gave a small pleasured sigh. Faith grinned and gave Xander (whose gaze had not wavered from Faith the second she got on stage) a pointed look as she gave Willow's neck a small nibble and then licking the sensitive skin with a predatory grin on her face. Both Xander and Willow moaned in unison, but Xander knew what that look meant. "This will *never* be you," it had said, but at the moment, he was a little too turned on to be disappointed.  
  
Faith gave the redhead one more nip and strode about the audience, stopping when a balding middle aged guy held up a twenty, asking for a lap dance. Faith gave him a fake smile and went to grab the twenty, thinking 'Hey, a girl's gotta do, what a girl's gotta do...' when suddenly she found herself being dragged into the bathroom. The hand that she had reached out with the grab the cash was now firmly grasped in the small hand of her fellow Slayer. Faith wrenched her hand away from the shorter Slayer's angrily.  
  
"Jesus Christ B, you trying to get me fired?" she growled at the older girl.  
  
"How could you do this Faith? It's- it's...degrading!" Buffy nearly shrieked.  
  
"Whoa whoa, B, chill! It's no big deal! I don't even go topless for chrissake, and this place is actually really clean for a stri-"  
  
"*Enough!*" cut in Buffy, "You probably scarred Willow for life, if nothing else!"  
  
Faith was taken aback. "What the *fuck* are you talkin' about, B?! She *liked* it! For fucks sake it was completely *obvious!* You're just jea-" she protested loudly.  
  
Buffy opened her mouth to interrupt yet again but was beaten to the punch by the manager bursting in the door.  
  
"Lenore! I thought I fuckin' told you no fights during a fuckin' show! Tell your bitches that you're a stripper before you fuck 'em for the love of Christ!"  
  
"Yes, Tony," Faith growled slightly, trying to avoid Buffy's look. Buffy pushed away the indication that Faith slept with numerous *women*, assuming this kind of thing must have happened with the other dancers and the manager had confused them with Faith. She ignored the voice that said Faith could never be mistaken for anyone else.  
  
The manager gave Faith and Buffy a stern look, but stopped and looked Buffy up and down, leering slightly. "'Ey you ain't so bad yourself Blondie, if ya ever need a job-"  
  
"Fuck off, Tony," cut in Faith, fire flashing in her eyes, "No fuckin' way."  
  
Tony's eyes narrowed, "You watch your step Lenore, or you'll be out of a job." He slammed the door to the bathroom, leaving Buffy still glaring (although now determinedly) at Faith.  
  
"You're getting a new job."  
  
"WHAT?!" 


	3. She's not even a friend, I swear

Previously:  
  
Tony's eyes narrowed, "You watch your step Lenore, or you'll be out of a job." He slammed the door to the bathroom, leaving Buffy still glaring (although now determinedly) at Faith.  
  
"You're getting a new job."  
  
"WHAT?!"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Faith's jaw dropped open in shock at being ordered around by the smaller woman. "I am *not* getting a new job!" she protested angrily.  
  
"You *are* getting a new job, and I'm going to help you find it," insisted Buffy once more, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes threateningly at the brunette. Faith narrowed her eyes back at the blonde and spoke through clenched teeth, "Well in *that* case, B, what other 'talents' you propose I *use*? Gonna find me a pimp so I can *fuck* my way to a new apartment?!"  
  
Buffy flinched at that statement, her eyes widening in shock and hurt. "No, Faith, I'd never-..." she stopped herself, "Look, I just don't want you to lower yourself to this level." Buffy paused, avoiding Faith's eyes without really knowing why. "You're better than this," she added, softer than her previous statements.  
  
Faith stopped, her eyes widening at Buffy's caring words. She felt a small flutter of hope in her stomach but pushed it down, not daring to believe her crush on the blonde was ever gonna happen. 'She just worries about me is all...' she told herself, 'As a friend.'  
  
The brunette sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Whatever B, just let me change," she said, as close to an 'ok' as she was going to get, "And could you grab the rest of the costume from Red and the X-man out there? I gotta return it with the rest of this stuff." She gestured to her outfit, or lack thereof. Buffy looked down and unconsciously followed the brunette's hand motion before she realized that she already knew what Faith was and was *not* wearing. A slight flush appeared over her features and Buffy turned around and quickly exited the bathroom, setting her mind to her task.  
  
Buffy walked down the hall she had dragged Faith down to get to the bathroom and gave the strip joint a quick look-over to make sure Willow and Xander had stayed in their seats. Sure enough, Xander was still in his seat, watching the new stripper on stage.  
  
Giving the stripper a quick appraisal, the blonde Slayer came to the conclusion that not all the strippers were as awful as the first one they had seen. However, judging by some of the audience member's disappointed expressions, as well as the looks that were being tossed her way, Faith was obviously a crowd favorite. Buffy gave the guy who'd asked Faith for a lap dance a glare that most vamps knew to run from. His eyes widened and he turned around quickly in his chair, trying to make it look like he didn't want to miss the show to his friends.  
  
She checked the seat next to Xander's and found Willow staring at her lap again. Sighing at her shy friend's obvious discomfort, she walked up and waved a hand in front of Xander's face, and then indicated to the confused boy that he give up the skirt. He tried to play it off like he didn't have the skirt, but seeing the look on Buffy's face, he relented and reluctantly handed the skirt over. "What, I can't keep a souvenir?"  
  
"No," Buffy said in a tone that brooked no arguments. At Xander's disappointed 'aww...', Buffy moved in front of Willow, who was playing with the collar of the blouse Faith had tossed at her. The redhead seemed slightly dazed, and her breath was coming in soft, short gasps. Buffy kneeled in front of her friend and tucked the curtain of red hair that was blocking Willow's face behind her ear. The red head was *still* blushing from her encounter. Buffy sighed, making a mental note to yell at Faith later.  
  
"Willow?" Buffy ventured, and gave a pleased smile when the redhead looked up at her, looking almost startled at the blonde's appearance, as if she had just noticed Buffy was there. "You ok, Will?" Buffy asked, concerned, "Faith didn't freak you out did she?" At the mention of the brunette Slayer's name, Willow unconsciously licked her lips. After a short pause, Willow seemed to finally process her friend's question and shot into an animated reply.  
  
"No no no! Faith was uhm...she didn't 'freak me out' really, I'm just normally...you know...freaky. I mean, why else would I be sitting here at a strip club with my 2 best buds! Yeah that's me just your everyday normally freaky Willow. That's an oxymoron isn't it? Yep, I guess it is and now you're giving me that look like you do when I won't shut up cuz I'm babbling and you wanna say something so I'm gonna stop now..."  
  
Willow ducked her head and blushed even further at her inability to just *say* something clearly without going into a classic Willowy babblefest. Buffy, on the other hand couldn't help but smile at her adorable best friend, and slid two fingers under Willow's chin to regain eye contact.  
  
"Willow," Buffy paused, rethinking her question, "Did you... like it?" At Willow's panicked look that signified another waterfall of Willow-thoughts, Buffy quickly said, "Nevermind, we'll talk about this later, ok?" She got up and walked away.  
  
Five feet from leaving the red head, Buffy realized she had the skirt in her hands and remembered why she had come over here in the first place. She came back to the redhead and looked sheepish as she pointed to the blouse in the redhead's hands, explaining that Faith needed it. The redhead handed it over and Buffy made her way back to the bathroom, before realizing that Faith must have gone to her dressing room. Exasperated, she grumbled to herself, "Way to go Buffy. Really should've thought to ask her where it was first. Ugh..."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Jan leaned forward into Faith arms, "I can't believe she *left* me! I thought she *loved* me!" She sobbed openly into the dark Slayer's arms, who patted her back awkwardly.  
  
"Listen Jan, the bitch probably wasn't worth it anyway," Faith tried to comfort her fellow stripper, wondering what the *fuck* possessed Jan to cry on *her* shoulder! She had made a point to be pretty cold towards most of the other girls, so she didn't understand why...oh. *Oh*... One of Jan's hands had slid up from Faith's waist to one of her breasts, the thumb of Jan's hand sliding enticingly over Faith's erect nipple.  
  
Don't get her wrong, Faith wasn't turned on by the bottle blonde in front of her. The fact was she had never gotten a chance to work off her post- Slayage hornies, but had managed to push them out of the forefront until now. Faith bit her lip to stop a moan as she felt the older woman's other hand play with the waistband of her panties.  
  
"Uhm...Jan, listen I don't think this is the best ide-" Jan cut her off, hungrily claiming the brunette Slayers full mouth. The Slayer lust started to cloud her senses and Faith's hands slid down to cup the other woman's ass, pulling her closer as she bit lightly at the blonde's lower lip.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Faith, I got your- *Holy* God this is *not* a good time!" Buffy gawked at the display once she had found Faith's door. Faith was pinned against the wall moaning softly and had one leg wrapped around a blonde woman who's hands were places Buffy tried not to think about.  
  
Faith opened her eyes, about to curse off whoever came in without knocking when she saw that 'rude person' had been Buffy Summers. Just as Faith opened her mouth to cry out in shock at Buffy's sudden appearance, the older woman swiped her thumb deliciously over Faith's swollen clit, and Faith came right then and there, her eyes locked with her fellow Slayer's.  
  
"Buffyyyyyy..."  
  
Faith's soft, almost agonized, moan of ecstasy rang in Buffy's ears. Jan, however, looked less than pleased. "What the *fuck* was *that*?!" she yelled at Faith. "Why don't you fucking *look*?!" replied Faith who pointed at Buffy while still flushed as the result of a mixture of the afterglow, embarrassment, and anger at being caught. Jan huffed angrily and stormed out of the room, yanking on her jacket as she went.  
  
Buffy shifted uncomfortably in the doorway.  
  
"Is she a uh...friend of yours?" 


	4. Better than nothing

"Buffyyyyyy..." (snip) Jan huffed angrily and stormed out of the room, yanking on her jacket as she went.  
  
Buffy shifted uncomfortably in the doorway.  
  
"Is she a uh...friend of yours?"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Faith straightened her panties and bra nervously, all too aware of how her hair stuck to her sweat slicked neck and shoulders and the jolt of adrenaline she always got when Buffy was nearby. She knew she was trying to destroy the evidence of a rather intense fuck session that already had a witness, but it was a reflex she couldn't help. Avoiding eye contact with Buffy, she ran a hand through her hair absentmindedly as she formulated a response.  
  
"No... not really."  
  
"Oh," replied Buffy. She, too, was trying not to look at her dark counterpart, preferring instead to look around at the shabbily decorated interior to the dressing room. "Oh!," Buffy started, having remembered that she still had Faith's clothes in her hands and lifted them up as if presenting an example, "I got these like you said."  
  
"Just put them on that chest, B," replied Faith, gesturing to a worn mahogany chest on the floor which was full of any number of costumes, ranging from devil to angel, nun to dominatrix.  
  
"Oh," Buffy cleverly replied. She settled her weight on the opposite foot once more and spoke nervously, "Listen, this is uh...*really* awkward so I'll just-"  
  
"No! Buff-", she cleared her throat, feeling awkward saying the older girl's full name after just having moaned it in the height of passion ('With another person, you fucking *skank!*' she castigated herself mentally.) "B... Let's just talk, ok?"  
  
Her voice was desperate; she had not wanted Buffy to find out about her sexuality like this. Sure, she hadn't been incredibly discreet about it, but she had wanted to wait until she was at least on level ground with Buffy once again. They had just started to become friends when that whole mess with Gwendolyn Post happened, and since then they'd barely spent anytime together. They even patrolled separately, and Faith badly missed the precious little time she had spent with her sister Slayer.  
  
Buffy hesitated in answering. So many questions were running through her head and half of them she wasn't sure she was ready for the answers to. For the first time since the incident with Jan, the two girls looked each other in the eye. Buffy saw the desperation , sadness and guilt swirling in Faith's eyes, and she was sure Faith could see the hurt and betrayed emotions darting behind her own. She broke the moment, looking down at her feet.  
  
"Ok," she agreed to Faith's proposal, "We'll talk."  
  
"Ok, just gimme a sec, I gotta get dressed," Faith said giving a small apologetic smile.  
  
Buffy closed the chest and sat on it, waiting patiently and watching Faith tug on her leathers. Unconsciously hypnotized once again by the brunette's beauty, her eyes felt drawn to every curve and dip of Faith's body. A scar on her left hip, a birthmark just inside her right thigh, and a speckling of beauty marks could be all be found on Faith's sleek figure.  
  
The grace with which the dark Slayer moved was reminiscent of a feline's. Every movement was controlled and held a certain fluidity that only Faith possessed. Buffy had never admitted it to herself before, but she had been so jealous of Faith in the beginning because she admired her. She admired her daring attitude, her grace, her laugh, her beauty...  
  
'Oh God...' Buffy thought, 'I really need to talk to Will...' She paused in her train of thinking, realizing that her thought patterns were exactly right, because her thoughts were right in line with what she had planned on talking to Willow about earlier. 'Go me!' she thought, smiling slightly.  
  
Faith tugged on her tank top and sat next to Buffy. She noticed that Buffy was smiling a little, and she couldn't help but smile, too. Faith caught Buffy's eye and gave another smile, this one a little sheepish and there was a hint of shame in her voice.  
  
"B, I-...I'm sorry," she got with some difficulty. Apologies weren't really her thing. At Buffy's slightly puzzled expression, Faith elaborated. "You know, for not telling you about...well ok. Let's start over." She took a deep breath, "I fuck girls. I know I lied and put on a show about fucking guys but the truth is... I'm gay. And I'm sorry I didn't tell you before but I was... well I just didn't want you to hate me. "  
  
Buffy couldn't exactly say she was shocked. It's simply not possible to deny seeing something with your very own eyes when it's followed with a situation as awkward as this. "Faith... I never hated you. Jealous of you, yeah, but never hated."  
  
Faith sighed, not sure how to react to a statement that she saw as being impossible. How could Buffy, the girl with a perfect life, be jealous of trailer trash like her? She looked at the floor and kicked lightly at an errant bead with the toe of her boot.  
  
"I miss patrolling with you," Buffy offered suddenly. Faith looked up and saw that Buffy was serious.  
  
"I miss patrolling with you, too," replied Faith, smiling again.  
  
"Good."  
  
"Yeah, good."  
  
Pause.  
  
"I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then. Training?"  
  
"Of course, B. Wouldn't miss it."  
  
"Good. I'm bringing the want ads."  
  
"Cool... Hey! B, weren't we over this, I'm *not* getting a new job!"  
  
Buffy merely smiled and said, "Yes, Faith. You are."  
  
Faith sighed resignedly, "Whatever."  
  
"See ya tomorrow Faith!" the blonde Slayer waved quickly at Faith from the doorway, and Faith felt herself give another involuntary half smile at the older girl's exuberance.  
  
'Well,' she thought, 'It's a start.' 


	5. Needing glasses doesn't make you blind

~~~~~~~~~~ Previously ~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"See ya tomorrow Faith!" the blonde Slayer waved quickly at Faith from the doorway, and Faith felt herself give another involuntary half smile at the older girl's exuberance.  
  
'Well,' she thought, 'It's a start.'  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"No fuckin' way!"  
  
"Aww, c'mon Faith! It's not *that* bad!"  
  
Faith's jaw dropped open as she stared at her fellow Slayer in shock. They were currently sitting on the research table, newspapers scattered around them. Buffy sat with one leg tucked underneath her and the other outstretched, while Faith looked on with her legs tucked comfortably in indian-style.  
  
"Double Meat Palace 'isn't that bad'," she repeated, incredulous.  
  
"Well, ok maybe it's a *little* sketchy," Buffy flattened out the paper in her hands once more.  
  
"G-man, are you hearing what I have to deal with?" Faith whined as Buffy continued, undeterred, about the virtues of getting free food in the background.  
  
"Mm?" Giles raised his eyebrows at Faith from over his book, replying purely for her benefit. "Quite right. Appalling."  
  
Faith threw her hands up in frustration. "I give up! You win!"  
  
Buffy grinned at Faith, "Good, you'll look so cute in that hat!"  
  
The brunette grunted in dismay as she realized her bluff hadn't worked, "I wasn't *serious*..." Buffy smiled, putting her hand on Faith's knee to get her attention.  
  
"Neither was I," she started, her voice reassuring, "That place is totally gross! *I'd* certainly never work there!" She made a disgusted face, her nose crinkling up slightly at the thought.  
  
Faith smiled with relief, watching Buffy lift up more papers with (hopefully) better options. 'She's so cute was she's all into something. She gets so playful, just like a little kitten... ' Faith thought as she watched Buffy light up at finding another job that didn't require a high school education.  
  
"Look!" she stated enthusiastically, pointing at a small ad on the same page as the Double Meat Palace ad had been. Faith read the ad upside down and lifted a single eyebrow up at Buffy.  
  
"Construction?"  
  
"Yep!"  
  
"...You want me surrounded by a hundred sweaty men who are more likely to make fun of me and slap my ass than actually let me *do* something?"  
  
"Yes!" Buffy replied, but then realized what Faith had said and corrected herself hurriedly. "I mean *no!*" She paused, the description Faith had put forth sinking in fully. "*God* no! Let's find something else here..."  
  
Faith opened her mouth to reply but was stalled by a certain redhead exploding through the library doors.  
  
"Buffy, I'm *so* sorry I didn't answer the phone last night! My parents got home early from... where ever they were this time and wanted to know where I'd been and you know how bad I am at lying! So they yelled at me for a while, well my dad did anyways, my mom was going on about how 'progressive that line of work is' and starting humming 'Sisters are doing it for themselves' and I was just very disturbed and so you can understand why I didn't get to the phone in ti-"  
  
"Calm, Willow. Breathe," Buffy cut Willow off, a bemused expression firmly in place at her friend's frantic explanation. Willow half-smiled in embarrassment as she shrugged her shoulders in a typical "couldn't help it" gesture. Buffy paused a second, tilting her head curiously at Willow.  
  
"How did you know we'd be here?"  
  
"Aren't we always here?"  
  
"Point taken."  
  
Faith watched the banter between the two for a few minutes longer, before getting bored. They had moved on to talking about some teacher that Faith could, quite frankly, not care any less about. She sighed heavily and leaned back on one hand, tugging at the hem of her usual white tank top idly with the other.  
  
Growing bored with that just as quickly as with anything else, she looked up, only to catch Willow not-so-stealthily averting her eyes. She grinned at the redhead, waiting for her to turn back. Which she would do. Eventually.  
  
And look! There it was again! Faith caught Willow's eye and winked, biting her full bottom lip to give the redhead a wonderfully naughty (and purposefully inviting) gaze. Willow licked her lips nervously, responding to Buffy question with slightly more halted speech than usual. Faith smirked to herself, deciding today might be more fun than she thought.  
  
Willow felt a small tremor run through her body at the sight of Faith's expression and swallowed nervously. She turned her attention back to Buffy with not a little effort, realizing she'd missed what'd been said. Unsure, she nodded her head, hoping that a nod was an appropriate answer for whatever the blonde girl had just said.  
  
Buffy raised an eyebrow at her friend and gave Faith a sideways glace, but decided to relieve her friend of possible embarrassment at pointing the exchange out. Instead she smiled broadly at her best friend and tossed her a section from one of the 3 newspapers on the table.  
  
"As much as I love ranting about teachers, we need to help Faith get a new job," Buffy cast the aforementioned brunette a meaningful glance. "Mind lending a hand, Will?"  
  
Willow blushed at the reminder of Faith's current occupation, and climbed up on the table to join them in their search. She folded her legs underneath herself, conscious of the fact she was wearing a shorter skirt than she usually wore.  
  
Faith smirked at the blonde's obvious irritation and nodded towards Willow (who was currently absorbed in finding a new job) as if to say "Hey, can ya blame me?" Buffy caught herself nearly shrugging in agreement before she realized what Faith was up to and frowned at her fellow Slayer reprovingly. Faith merely gave a mischievous smile before stretching luxuriously, making sure to let a soft moan of contentment escape her lips. 'I didn't know Faith could purr...' Buffy thought as she watched the brunette's stomach muscles tense and relax underneath her tight tank top. She felt a small twinge in her lower belly, before automatically rationalizing both the feeling and her actions. She was just admiring another girl's body. Girl's do that all the time. To check out the competition... and stuff. And maybe she'd eaten... uhm. Something.  
  
Willow wasn't any better, turning beet red and biting her lip from desire that she felt settling just below her belly button. It didn't help that she'd dreamed of Faith last night. Neither did it help that she had memories of just how it would feel to have Faith's warm breath against her ear as she breathed a small sigh of relief, or how that ample bosom would feel against her own. Willow squirmed slightly on place as she scolded herself for letting her mind go to such bad, naughty places when she still had (argh!) four more class periods after her study hall.  
  
Faith was enjoying the feeling of two sets of eyes watching her, and more so, that the two sets of eye were familiar. She loved being admired (part of her motivation to be a stripper) but she had failed to recall that strip clubs tend to mean lots and lots of skanky, gross dirty old men. And not even cute, and young-ish ones like Giles, either.  
  
As if he was aware of her thought, Giles finally raised his eyes from his book, wondering why in the world it was completely silent for longer than a minute when he was in a room with three teenage girls. Faith, as usual, was tempting the poor redhead, and Buffy seemed to be catching on to it as well, perhaps more favorably than Giles had suspected she might. He raised a single amused eyebrow at all three of them and coughed into his hand, as if to clear his throat. Three sets of eyes leveled on him reluctantly, two sets markedly more so than the other.  
  
"You girls haven't got all day, you know, next period starts in," he checked his watch, "five minutes. Don't want to waste all your time just staring into space, do you?" At the word space, his eyes had flicked to catch Faith's gaze, a small smile creasing the corners of his eyes.  
  
"Oh geez!" Willow hopped off the table, hurrying away, "I forgot I need to talk to Mrs. Roberts about that day I was absent last week! I'll see you guys later." She gave both Buffy and Faith an apologetic smile, her eyes lingering slightly longer than they should have on places they shouldn't be noticing. Her rushed exit was followed by Buffy's soft sigh of reluctance as she gathered her own things from beneath the scatterings of newspaper sections.  
  
"Leaving so soon, B?" Faith tilted her head at the blonde, her mouth playing into a small, subtly teasing smile.  
  
"Yeah, I gotta grab some stuff from my locker before next period," she frowned at having to go, but then birghtened suddenly, "You could come over later, and we could find something better! The perfect job for you." She offered a hopeful smile, which the brunette returned with another slow, teasing grin.  
  
"Of course."  
  
"Ok!"  
  
After Buffy had bounded off looking far too excited to be merely going to class., the brunette gathered her things and nodded her goodbye to Giles, who returned the gesture. He smiled at her departing back, glacing back down at his book before he whispered just loud enough for the dark Slayer to hear.  
  
"I'm British, not blind, you know."  
  
And Faith just smiled, the library doors swinging shut behind her and a page of want ads rolled up in her hand.  
  
"Glad someone's not, G-man." 


End file.
